ISLAMABAD: Washington's assessment of India as a counterbalance to China has diminished, a former Pakistani UN ambassador has said, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif prepares to travel to New York for this year's UN General Assembly session.
Speaking on Pakistan TV Digital's South Speaks with Saqib, Munir Akram, twice Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN and a former President of the Security Council, said recent events have reshaped how Washington views the region.
"The Americans now see that India is not the kind of great power that it was projecting itself to be, and therefore the value of India as a counterbalance to China has been reduced," Akram said.
He said Pakistan's own standing improved after last year's conflict with India.
"Our response was very credible, and the world sat up, including the United States. They recognized that Pakistan was a credible military power," he said, adding Washington now engages Pakistan "on its own merits, rather than through the prism of India or Afghanistan."
On the Prime Minister's UNGA visit, which typically includes bilateral engagement with US officials, Akram set out three priorities for institutionalizing the relationship: counterterrorism cooperation, concrete American investment in Pakistan, and cooperation on peace in the Middle East and South Asia.
"We should make a breakthrough by getting American investment in Pakistan," he said.
He said Washington has also reached a "mature recognition" that Pakistan's deep strategic relationship with China will not change, without that affecting cooperation on shared objectives.
He said Pakistan should maintain strong ties with Washington "without compromising on its strategic partnership with China."